


Chill in the Air

by Kishirokitsune



Series: Kidgetober 2020 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Kidgetober 2020, References to Sherlock Holmes, Week 4: Halloween, most of these will probably just be modern day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kishirokitsune/pseuds/Kishirokitsune
Summary: A series of one-shots for the 4th and final week of Kidgetober 2020. This week's general theme is: Halloween.Day 25: MysteryDay 26: Haunted HouseDay 27: PumpkinDay 28: CostumesDay 29: Trick or TreatDay 30: Cozy Night InDay 31: Free Day
Relationships: Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Pidge (Voltron), Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt, other pairings listed in chapter summaries
Series: Kidgetober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947403
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	1. Halloween | Mystery

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: Detective Holt and Doctor Hawkins are called to investigate a murder at Lionheart Manor.
> 
> Other characters: Allura, Lance, Coran, Hunk, Shiro, and Romelle. (Though Romelle has no speaking part.)  
> Other pairings: vaguely implied Allurance.
> 
> Other notes: Trying a little something different with this first one.

Detective Katie “Pidge” Holt and her partner, Keith Hawkins, arrived at the Lionheart Mansion to a most dramatic scene.

A silver-haired young woman openly wept into the shoulder of a man with brown hair, who held onto her and crooned soft words into her ear. Nearby, a man with a meticulously styled mustache who also wore an old-fashioned butler's uniform, watched the pair of them with narrowed eyes. He snapped to attention as Pidge and her partner walked up the steps to the heavy front doors and Pidge made a mental note to talk to him as soon as possible.

The only other person out front was an exhausted plain clothes officer, who Pidge recognized as Captain Kolivan Durand, who was likely waiting for his dismissal from the grounds.

Before she could do that, she needed to interview the others and get their side of the story.

Pidge cleared her throat. “Miss Allura Lionheart?”

The woman with silver hair noisily sobbed for a few more seconds before removing herself from the arms of the man who was comforting her. She dabbed at her eyes with a delicate pink handkerchief and then finally turned to address Pidge. “Y-yes?”

“I'm Detective Holt and this is my partner, Doctor Hawkins,” Pidge introduced. “We're here to ask everyone a few questions about the events that occurred here in the early hours of this morning. Would you have a private room where we could do this?”

“Yes, of course. Please follow me this way,” said Allura. She patted at her eyes one last time and then turned, leading the pair into the mansion. She seemed to shrink away from the grand staircase, which had been roped off by the initial investigation team, and hurried them to a parlor on the right. “There's an office on the other side of that door. I hope you'll find it suitable.”

“The office sounds perfect,” Keith spoke up.

“If you don't mind, we'd like to interview you first, Miss Lionheart,” Pidge said, getting straight to the point. “After that, your remaining guests, and then any staff that were here last night.”

Allura nodded in agreement. “Whatever you need to do, detective.”

* * *

TRANSCRIPT OF ALLURA LIONHEART – HEIRESS

PIDGE: For the record, I am Detective Katie Holt. I am here with my partner, Doctor Keith Hawkins, who will be taking notes and asking questions of his own to aid in this investigation. Our first witness is Heiress Allura Lionheart. Miss, Lionheart, if you don't mind, we'll be recording this conversation so we can look back and review it when we need to.

[ALLURA makes a sound to indicate her agreement.]

PIDGE: Miss Lionheart, you hosted an even yesterday afternoon? Would you tell us what it was for and who attended?

[There's a shuffling of paper as KEITH flips open his notebook and prepares to take notes. He verbally notes this for the audio record.]

ALLURA: I sent out invitations a month ago. Lance McClain, Ulaz Lange, Thace Nilsson, and Slav Balogh. It was to celebrate my dear friend, T-Takashi. [She pauses to loudly sniffle.] Oh, Takashi, if only I had known, I never would have sent out a single invitation!

PIDGE: I am truly sorry for your loss, Miss Lionheart. You and the deceased were close?

ALLURA: We went to school together and stayed in touch over the years. I hadn't seen him in over a year.

PIDGE: Was there a reason for this?

ALLURA: No, we just drifted apart. Letters became scarce and I didn't want to bother him when he was so deep into his research.

PIDGE: I see. Now, I know this may be difficult, but I'd like for you to recount, in your own words, the events of this past evening leading up to the discovery of the body.

ALLURA: It wasn't until after dinner that the party ended. I invited everyone to stay here at the manor and Lance and Shiro were the only two to agree. I took a leisurely after-dinner stroll through the garden with Lance and then he escorted me to my room. I went to bed shortly after.

KEITH: Do you remember what time this was?

ALLURA: I-I cannot.

PIDGE: Did you happen to notice anything weird during your stroll? Any loud noises? Anyone acting suspicious?

ALLURA: No. There was nothing.

KEITH: May I ask who else remained in the manor overnight, other than your two guests? You said Mr. McClain and the deceased were the two who stayed, correct?

ALLURA: That's right. I also have several live-in staff who have their own rooms. Coran, Romelle, and Hunk were all here last night.

PIDGE: And you weren't woken by anything during the night?

ALLURA: No, I'm a very sound sleeper. I routinely sleep through the grandfather clock in the lobby chiming on the hour, or well... Actually, I did wake once. It must have been around three o'clock or so. That's how many chimes I heard. How odd.

PIDGE: And in the morning, did you wake on your own? How did you discover the scene?

ALLURA: I don't... oh goodness, I woke on my own. And there was this commotion that I could hear. Perhaps that aided me into waking. And I hurried to put on my robe and go see what the fuss was about and... and that's when I saw him lying there. It was so horrid I couldn't bear to look. Please, detective, you must find who did this!

PIDGE: We will do our best, Miss Lionheart. If you have nothing else to add for the moment, we'd like to move on to our next witness. If you think of anything later, we will of course take the time to listen.

[END RECORDING]

* * *

“So, what do you think?” Keith quietly asked while he and Pidge prepared for their next witness. “That clock thing seemed odd.”

“Or it could be nothing. We'll look into it, but I don't really expect to get much out of a clock,” Pidge said. “Right now I want to focus on our interview with Mr. McClain. According to Miss Lionheart, he was the last person she saw that night, and right now we don't know where he went after walking her back to her room. Lets see what he has to say and then we'll talk to the staff.”

Keith nodded in agreement.

* * *

TRANSCRIPT OF LANCE MCCLAIN – PILOT

[PIDGE and KEITH introduce themselves to LANCE, who then agrees to answer any questions they have.]

PIDGE: I'd like to jump right in to the events that took place from after dinner last night to this morning when the body was found. You and the deceased were the only two guests who remained in the manor, correct?

LANCE: Yeah. It was the two of us, Allura, and the others who live here.

PIDGE: Their names are...?

LANCE: The butler is Coran, Romelle is the head maid, and Hunk is the head chef. Me and Shiro spent some time with them once Allura went to bed. They're all pretty cool.

PIDGE: We'll come back to that. Tell me what happened after dinner, once the other guests left.

LANCE: Right, so, we had gone to the front hall to see off Ulaz, Thace, and Slav, and Shiro said he was going back to his room to de-stress for a while after having to spend an evening in the company of Slav. They have some kind of strange history together. I dunno. It's like everything Slav did was to push Shiro's buttons. Anyway, once they were gone and Shiro was off doing his thing, I asked Allura for a walk in the garden. I figured it'd be a nice romantic way to end the evening.

KEITH: You and Miss Lionheart are seeing each other?

LANCE: Not officially, but I'd like to.

PIDGE: Please carry on, Mr. McClain.

LANCE: We must have spent an hour or so out there talking and then I walked her back to her room. After that I figured I'd go downstairs to see if there was anymore of the amazing dessert we had for dinner, and that's when I bumped into Shiro again. We went down to the kitchen together and one thing led to another and then we were all sitting around playing cards.

PIDGE: Please state who you were playing cards with.

LANCE: Shiro, of course, and then Coran, Hunk, and Romelle. Well, just the two of us and Hunk at first, then Coran joined us, and then Romelle. We played until midnight – I remember hearing that clock chime twelve, and then we all split up. Shiro and I went back to the second floor where our rooms were and that was the last I saw of him. I went to bed after that.

PIDGE: And did anything strange happen during the night?

LANCE: Eh, I don't know about that. It's an unfamiliar place, so I feel like I woke up with every creak the manor makes. Between that and the clock going off every hour, I feel like I barely slept. But I wouldn't call that strange.

PIDGE: Tell me what it was like when you got up that morning.

LANCE: Normal, I guess. My alarm went off, I washed off my face and got dressed. I was heading down to the kitchen for breakfast when I found everyone else around... around Shiro. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. It's just awful what happened.

PIDGE: Is there anything else you feel we should know?

KEITH: Any odd behavior from anyone you spent time with that night?

LANCE: Nope. Like I said, we were all hanging out and playing cards. It was a good time.

PIDGE: Thank you for your time, Mr. McClain. If there's anything else you can think of, please let us know.

[END RECORDING]

* * *

“The clock again,” Keith pointed out the moment they were alone.

“It still doesn't mean anything. Besides, we've heard it go off once since we arrived and you have to agree, it's a very loud clock,” Pidge responded. “Anyway, his testimony backs up what Miss Lionheart said, so there are no red flags there.”

“Unless they're both lying.”

Pidge sighed softly, but couldn't disagree with her partner. “Unless they're both lying.”

* * *

TRANSCRIPT OF CORAN ROUSSEAU – BUTLER

PIDGE: We now pick up with Coran Rousseau, the butler of Miss Lionheart's estate. Mr. Rousseau, you were here for the duration of the event held yesterday and overnight, correct?

CORAN: Correct! I live here in the manor so that I can better serve Miss Allura. All of the head staff have their own rooms over in the servant wing. Last night I was here with Romelle and Hunk, as well as Miss Allura's guests, of course.

PIDGE: I'd like to hear your account of the events that occurred here yesterday evening. You may start from the point where the others left after dinner, if there's nothing that stands out during the get-together.

[CORAN makes a loud humming sound – KEITH notes that the butler twirls his mustache as he thinks back to the day before.]

CORAN: After dinner, I assisted Misters Lange, Nilsson, and Balogh to their vehicles and remained until they were past the gate. I made sure it was securely shut before going back inside, at which point the others had already dispersed for the evening. I went to speak with Romelle while she straightened the dining room and then went about my usual evening routine. Once those were through, I joined Hunk, Mr. Shirogane, and Mr. McClain in the kitchen where they were playing cards. Romelle joined us shortly after. It must have been around midnight when we all split up for bed.

KEITH: You're sure it was midnight?

CORAN: Oh, yes! The grandfather clock in the main hall chimed twelve times. We could all hear it.

PIDGE: Could you go into more detail about your usual evening routine?

CORAN: Oh, I just walk around the manor and make sure all of the windows are locked and everything is in its right place. I always start on the ground floor where I first check the security system and then I move onto the doors and windows. On the top floor are more windows and I make sure the rooms are all in order – unless they're occupied, of course.

PIDGE: How long would you say that takes you?

CORAN: A little over an hour.

PIDGE: And you didn't notice anything odd during that time last night? Anything out of place? Any strange sounds? Smells?

CORAN: Nothing odd at all. I had this whole place locked up tight for the night!

PIDGE: I see. Well, thank you for speaking to us, Mr. Rousseau. Please let us know if there's anything else you can think of.

[END RECORDING]

* * *

Pidge through her hands up the moment they were finished interviewing Hunk and Romelle, who both corroborated the stories that had already been told and also noticed _nothing_ strange during the night. “How is it no one heard or saw anything odd? There were five – okay, six, but I can't really count Mr. Shirogane – people here last night!”

“It just means that whoever committed the murder did so quietly. They must know this manor pretty well, too,” Keith said. “Ready to go sleuthing?”

Pidge's eyes lit up. “Yes! Just let me get something first...”

Keith watched as Pidge reached into her satchel and pulled out a gray deerstalker cap and a small wooden pipe. To his bewilderment, she happily plopped the cap on her head and poured some sort of liquid into the pipe, which she then stuck in her mouth and blew into, causing tiny bubbles to rise up.

“Seriously?” he asked and got no response.

Their first stop on their investigation of the manor was the main hall, where the infamous grandfather clock stood tall and proud in one corner of the room, not far from where the body of the victim was found that morning.

“Well here it is,” Pidge said, coming to a stop in front of it. “Just a perfectly ordinary, not-at-all-suspicious clock. Thoughts, Keith?”

He glared at her. “Everyone we talked to mentioned this clock. My gut instinct says that it's important, but not necessarily suspicious.”

Pidge gave him a few minutes to examine the clock while she plotted out her next move. Walking through the entire manor sounded like the best way to start, but she also had some questions about the security system that she hadn't thought of before. Like, what it only to detect if someone opened the door or a window? Or were there cameras involved as well?

So while Keith examined every inch of the grandfather clock, Pidge flagged down Coran to ask him a few more questions about the security system and learned about a room on the first floor which held the video feed for the cameras outside and the few cameras inside the manor.

“Although... I'm afraid it didn't capture anything in the main hall last night,” Coran said apologetically. “I was asked to turn it off.”

“By who?” Pidge demanded, immediately suspicious.

“That would be Mr. Shirogane. He has a habit of sleepwalking and he asked if I could turn it off. It has a sensor, you see, to detect unwanted movement in the night. He didn't want to wake anyone up if he made it that far.”

Pidge blew into her pipe and watched tiny bubbles erupt from the end.

“Keith, lets go! I think I found something,” she called out.

Ten minutes later, the two found themselves in a cramped security office, fast-fowarding through the limited footage from the night before in search of anything changing.

Suddenly, Keith frowned. “Pause for a minute. Go back to three AM.”

Pidge did so and they sat and watched the unchanging cameras for a minute. “There's nothing there.”

“There's _something_ there,” Keith corrected. He nudged her hand away from the controls and backed up all the way to 1:59 AM. “There's sound, right?”

“Yes?”

Keith hit play and they only had to wait thirty seconds before they heard the muffled gongs of the grandfather clock go off at exactly 2 AM. He waited until it was finished and then fast-forwarded back to 2:59 AM and hit play, but that time it clicked over to 3 AM and there were no gongs.

It wasn't until the time read 3:17 AM that they finally heard it.

Keith looked at Pidge smugly. “I _told_ you there was something important about the clock. This has to be why it woke up Miss Lionheart; it went off at a different time than was normal and she was subconsciously aware of it.”

“Alright, I admit it. You were right about the clock,” Pidge said reluctantly. “The question is: how is it related to the case?”

“I guess that's up to us to figure it out,” Keith said, tossing her an excited grin.

Pidge looked equally as excited to have found a clue, but did a good job of tamping down on that to try and maintain an air of professionalism. “Right, so lets go over what we have so far. Our victim is Takashi Shirogane, who recently received a grant to continue his research. Miss Lionheart hosted a party to celebrate this and it was during the night that he was bludgeoned to death in the main hall. The murder weapon is currently unknown, but we have evidence of someone potentially tampering with the grandfather clock.”

“Only potentially?” Keith asked. “Do I need to replay the video?”

“Potentially because we don't know how accurate it is on average. We need to ask about that before we can conclusively say that someone tampered with it,” Pidge said.

“So, we have to talk to Coran again?”

Pidge nodded.

The pair took their time walking back to the main hall where they'd asked everyone to remain until they finished their investigation. When they got there, they found a strange sight. There was a tall man with dark hair sobbing loudly into Allura's shoulder, who looked utterly bewildered as she tried to comfort him.

For one heart-stopping moment, Pidge thought that their victim had been resurrected and was walking among them, because the man looked alarmingly like Takashi Shirogane.

“What's going on?” Keith asked the nearest person, who turned out to be the Head Chef, Hunk Garrett.

“We don't know,” Hunk said with a shrug. “He just turned up and started wailing about his brother? He says his name is Sven.”

Pidge and Keith exchanged confused looks.

“I don't remember our records saying anything about a brother, do you?” Pidge asked quietly.

Keith shook his head, flipped through his notes, and then shook his head again.

Pidge grumbled something indecipherable under her breath and then marched over to Allura and Sven, loudly announcing her presence by clearing her throat. Keith was close behind her.

“Excuse me? There's an investigation going on here, sir. Why are you here?” she asked.

Sven gave one more loud sob before lifting his head from Allura's shoulder and turning to face the Detective and her partner. Resting above his upper lip was the most obvious fake mustache Pidge had ever seen.

“I-I am Sven. I came the moment I heard about m-my brother.” He spoke in an outrageously bad Norwegian accent; one so awful that Keith had to turn away and cough in order to cover up his desire to laugh.

“Your brother,” Pidge said flatly. “So you would be Sven... Shirogane?”

He shook his head. “Sven Holgersson. Takashi is my half-brother. We have different fathers.”

Pidge stared at him for a moment and then threw up her hands. “I am _not_ doing this.”

At once, the atmosphere of the room changed. Allura brushed away her tears and stood up straight, Keith gave into his laughter and was joined by Lance, and “Sven” gave Pidge a wry grin.

“Shiro, this was not part of the game,” Pidge said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I thought it would be fun to spice things up a bit,” Shiro said with a shrug. “No offense to Kolivan, but there's only so long I can stand around outside and make small-talk before things get boring. And it _may_ have been that I was coming in to ask everyone what they wanted for lunch and then we heard you two come back and I had to think of something on the fly.”

“So you thought of _Sven Holgersson_?” Pidge asked incredulously.

“It's better than Gyro,” Hunk said. He paused to think about it for a moment. “Marginally. It's _marginally_ better than Gyro.”

Shiro playfully harrumphed. “None of you appreciate my creative genius.”

Keith recovered from his bought of laughter and took Pidge's hand, drawing her in close and stymieing her frustration before it could build any higher. “Why don't we take a break for lunch and then come back to this after. _Without_ Sven Holgersson,” he added in the hope of solving their current biggest problem.

Everyone else agreed, though Shiro did pout over it for a few minutes, until they told him he could hang out in the security room and watch them run around on the cameras for the rest of the game.

And with that they put a hold on their game of Clue and all went out for lunch.


	2. Halloween | Haunted House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: At long last, they were ready to open their Haunted House to the public. The only thing left to to get into makeup and costume. 
> 
> Other characters: Hunk and Lance are mentioned by name. It's implied that Allura, Shiro, and Coran are also there.  
> No other pairings.

After all of their months of planning, it was finally happening.

The house was decorated to perfection. Notices and flyers placed around town to advertise the haunted attraction they had put together. Costumes made and bought; props re-purposed to suit their needs. The seven of them had rehearsed their parts until they could recite them in their sleep.

At last, the first day of running their haunted house had arrived and they were all rushing around to get into makeup and costume. Since Hunk had it the easiest – as he refused to do any of the scary stuff and was in the only non-blood-covered costume at the very end, where he would hand out candy – he was running around and helping everyone else.

Pidge happily plonked herself down in a chair and grinned at Keith, who was methodically arranging his tray of body paint, makeup, and fake blood so it was all easy to reach when he needed it. Once he was done, he flashed her a quick smile.

“Are you really sure you want me to do this? Lance would probably be better,” he said.

Pidge shook her head. “I feel much more comfortable letting my boyfriend get all up and personal with my face, to be honest.” She grinned when she spotted the faint blush across his cheeks. Even after seven months, he still got flustered whenever she referred to him as her boyfriend.

“You'll do fine,” she said reassuringly.

“I guess I can't really mess this up when it's not supposed to look good anyway,” Keith joked, reaching for his brush and the white face paint. “You'll be the most dead looking nurse to have ever stumbled around.”

Pidge couldn't help but lean forward and give him a quick kiss on the lips as he turned back around. She grinned at his surprised squeak as she leaned back. “Do your worst, babe.”


	3. Halloween | Pumpkin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: Keith and Pidge have a contest to see who can carve the most detailed pumpkin.
> 
> Other characters: Shiro, Matt, and Romelle  
> No other pairings.

It started out as a simple joke and somehow evolved into a very intense (very serious) competition over who could carve the most intricate design into a pumpkin. Really, Keith should have known the moment he joked about being better at it than Pidge, but he never could have guessed how involved their families would become.

So there they were, on a sunny October day, each of them with two perfectly sized pumpkins (one for a backup, just in case), a bucket for pumpkin innards, and all of the carving tools they could possibly need. They were facing one another on a picnic table in the Holt's backyard and several feet away were Shiro, Matt, and Romelle at a fold-up table who were prepared to judge their work.

Keith didn't imagine it was very fun for them to sit there for so long, but none of them seemed to mind. Whenever he took his eyes off of his pumpkin to glance over at them, they were all laughing and chatting away.

“Not done yet, are you?” Pidge challenged when she caught his gaze straying from his pumpkin.

“Not a chance,” he responded. “A true work of art takes time to complete.”

Pidge's laugh was soft as she re-focused on her own design.

Keith carefully stripped away pieces of the thin outer skin to form a pattern of leaves between the fully cut out branches. To form even smaller branches and twigs, he cut a little deeper into the grind, just to make them stand out more than the leaves. His hope was that once a candle was inside, it would light up the whole thing and look like a glowing, leafy tree.

“Ten minutes!” Matt jovially called out.

Keith added the last minute detail of a full moon off to the side, carving out a crescent and shaving away the rest and then sat back, pleased with his work.

“Ten!” Shiro called out.

“Nine!” Romelle chimed in after him.

Matt jumped in with an “eight!” and then it continued in that pattern as they counted down to “one!”, which they all shouted out.

Keith and Pidge set aside their tools.

“Keith, light a candle and show us your pumpkin,” Romelle instructed.

He turned on a battery-powered tea-light and placed it inside before carefully turning it to face the three judges. They playfully whispered to each other and jotted things down in their notebooks as though they were a real panel of judges on a TV show and then asked Pidge to show them hers.

Pidge slowly turned her pumpkin to face Keith.

The words “will you marry me?” were carved into hers.

Keith felt all of the air rush out of him at once. Slowly he reached out to trace his finger over the first letter, hardly daring to believe what was happening. He raised his eyes to hers. “Do you mean it?” he asked softly.

Pidge bit her lower lip and nodded, clearly unable to vocally answer out of worry over what he was about to say.

“Yes,” Keith said in return. “Yes, I'll marry you.”

Pidge nearly vaulted herself across the table in order to hug him.


	4. Halloween | Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: Pidge, Keith, and their two children prepare for a night of trick-or-treating.
> 
> Other characters: two Original Characters (Ruby and Alex). Shiro and Matt are also mentioned.  
> No other pairings.

Halloween was always an exciting time of year in the Holt-Hawkins house. The front porch was decorated to perfection, with some of it spilling out into the yard. Pumpkins were carved no earlier than a week before Halloween, to varying degrees of success depending on the person doing the carving. But of course, the true joy of the season came from picking the perfect costume.

As much as Ruby and Alex could fuss and fight with one another over everything else, nothing seemed to fill them with more joy than agreeing on a group costume they could all do as a family.

“So, how do I look?” Keith asked.

Pidge turned away from the mirror, the foreign feel of long hair sliding back over her shoulder. She bit her lip to keep from immediately laughing when she saw her husband dabbing in the doorway in his blue overalls and red shirt and cap.

She picked up her gloves and slid them on one at a time as she stood up. With careful steps, she walked over to him without knocking down anything with her voluminous pink skirt. “You're a very handsome Mario, Keith.”

“And you make a beautiful princess,” he responded, leaning down to kiss her.

“Ew!” chimed in two voices before breaking out into giggles.

Pidge and Keith turned in unison to face their children, who were dressed as Toad and Toadette, respectively.

Ruby's normally black hair was hidden behind a bright pink wig, which had been twisted into two thick braids on either side of her head. Her toadstool cap was carefully attached to the wig to keep it from slipping around and she wore a cute, sleeveless pink dress and a red jacket overtop to keep her warm while they were out trick-or-treating.

Meanwhile, Alex had decided he wanted to be a green Toad, so his toadstool cap was mostly white with several large green circles patterned on it. He wore white pants and a shirt, with an open green vest.

“Why don't you go find your treat buckets and then we'll get your shoes on so we can go,” Pidge suggested.

Alex nearly squealed in delight and tore out of the room, while Ruby followed at a more sedate pace.

Pidge waited until they were far enough from the room that they wouldn't interrupt again for another minute or two and then tugged Keith down for a more lingering kiss. “I hope you know that I can barely move in this gown and that you'll be doing all of the child wrangling until I can change out of it.”

“Good thing I invited our brothers to join us,” Keith said. “Be on the lookout for an unusually short and blond Luigi and a purple Yoshi.”

“I'm looking forward to seeing that,” Pidge said. “We should get out there before the kids try and leave without us. You first. I'll need all the space I can get.”

“Just let me know when you need a hand,” Keith said before obediently turning and leaving the room to go help their kids finish preparing for a night running around town.


	5. Halloween | Trick or Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: While Shiro is busy digging through their Halloween directions, Pidge and Keith take a quiet moment to themselves to relax.
> 
> Other characters: Shiro  
> No other pairings.

“Did you hide the candy?”

Keith cast a careful glance around the room to ensure his brother wasn't nearby to overhear their conversation. “It's in the most secure place I could think of. And I hid the bag of our decoy candy in the usual spot for him to find.”

Pidge nodded, satisfied by the answer. “Okay, we just need to make it a few more hours and then we'll be in the home stretch. I sent Shiro to go dig out all of our decorations out of the basement and pick which ones we're using this year, so that buys us a little time.”

“Any idea what theme he's going to pick this year?” Keith asked. “He refused to tell me when I asked, but I know he went out and bought a smoke machine.”

“He said something a week ago about needing new spider webbing because the package we got three years ago is a complete mess,” Pidge said with a shrug. She sat down on the couch next to her boyfriend and snuggled up close to him. “Maybe a classic haunted look?”

Keith wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll look great. I'm just glad he's having a good time.”

Pidge nodded in agreement. “I know the circumstances aren't the best and I'm sad that he had to go through such an awful break-up, but it's been so nice having him around. You've been happier too.”

“Yeah,” Keith agreed.

Part of that was because he knew Shiro was no longer in such an unhealthy relationship and was instead safe in their home and looking happier every day. The other part was just in having his brother so close. It was something he only got to experience during his last year of high school, when Shiro found out he'd been living on his own since getting booted from the orphanage at eighteen and gave him a safe place to live.

Things would be perfect if they could only get Shiro to stop eating the candy they bought for the trick-or-treaters.

“How long before we go check on him?” Keith asked.

Pidge hummed a little before she responded. “Just a few more minutes. I want to get some cuddling in first.”

That sounded like the best idea.


	6. Halloween | Cozy Night In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Modern Day  
> Summary: Pidge and Keith fall asleep on the couch while watching a movie.
> 
> Other characters: Kosmo  
> No other pairings

There was a movie playing on the screen in front of them, but neither Keith nor Pidge were paying any attention to it. Keith was leaning against the far right armrest, his feet on the floor, and his head tilted back against the cushion, his breath slow and even as he slept. In his arms, her legs draped across the rest of the couch, was Pidge, also sound asleep.

Kosmo, their black half-husky, padded into the room and paused at the sight of them. He cocked his head to one side, his tail wagging, and then ran off into another room. He returned a few minutes later dragging a blanket along behind him. He raised his front paws onto the side of the couch where Pidge's legs were and dropped the blanket onto her, nudging it until it covered most of her.

A giggle broke through the air.

“Good boy,” Pidge mumbled sleepily, groping for the blanket and arranging it a little better. She immediately fell back asleep.

Kosmo wagged his tail, pleased with his work and then padded back out of the room. Once again he returned a few minutes later, that time tugging his own bed along with him. He dropped it at the end of the couch and then turned three circles on it and laid down.

As the credits began to roll, Kosmo also slipped off into slumber.


	7. Halloween | Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Universe - Harry Potter  
> Summary: Keith attends the Samhain Gala at the Lionheart Mansion in the costume magically chosen for him. 
> 
> Other characters: Allura and Shiro  
> No other pairings.

Year after year, Keith found himself astounded that he enjoyed attending the annual Samhain Gala at the Lionheart Mansion.

Maybe it was because it wasn't so much a party as it was a gathering of friends who were given the excuse to wear their fanciest and most outrageous clothing to dance around the grand ballroom of the Lionheart mansion, before they all piled into the living room – still in their nice clothes – to watch muggle movies until they all passed out.

Allura's grand idea for the gala that year was to request everyone to attend in muggle fairytale-inspired attire. When everyone had agreed, she enchanted a bunch of scraps of paper and had everyone draw their roles so no one would accidentally (or purposefully) copy someone else. Keith had suspected she had an ulterior motive at the time, but hadn't cared enough to ask and was too busy trying to figure out how he was meant to dress as the Beast.

He wished he had when he saw _her_.

The voluminous skirts of her golden gown barely brushed the ground as she walked and her hair, which must have been magically lengthened for the occasion, was put up in a partial bun with the rest left to drape over her shoulder. Elbow-length gloves covered her arms and were the same shade of gold as her dress and altogether there was no denying that she was the Belle to match his Beast.

Keith was extremely glad that he'd decided against transfiguring his head into a beastlike form, choosing instead to neatly tie his hair back into a ponytail at the base of his neck and wear a blue tailcoat similar to the one from the animated movie they'd watched during the summer. Lance had called him lazy for it, but Keith thought that was preferable to the full-on mockery he would face if he went the transfiguration route.

Pidge spotted him and lifted her hand in greeting before reaching down to lift the front of her skirt as she moved a little more quickly towards him. She dropped it once she was standing in front of him. “I think I'm starting to understand why Allura was so insistent on using magical parchment.”

“Only starting to?” Keith teased, eliciting a laugh from his friend.

They both took a moment to look around at the others, but Keith couldn't stand the quiet for too long. He cleared his throat and offered her his arm. “Do you, um, want to dance?”

Pidge smiled and slid her arm into his. “I'd love to.”

Neither of them noticed Shiro shooting Allura a double thumbs-up from across the room, nor her response, which was to pump a fist into the air in victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The end of Kidgetober 2020!  
> A huge shout out to everyone who left a comment or a kudos on this series! You have no idea how much I appreciate even the simplest of comments. It seriously makes my day a little brighter every time.
> 
> I figured for those of you who regularly read my fics, I'll let you know that I'll be taking a break from any multi-chapter Kidge fics until January 1st, and honestly, even one-shots will be pretty scarce. Because I work in retail, it's hard to find the time and energy to do much writing this time of year, and I want to work on a few other fandom projects and see if I can finish those up.  
> When I come back in January, it will likely be to start the sequel to "The Smallest Blade". If you'd like to keep up with my plans, then follow me over on tumblr [ https://calligraphist-artemisia.tumblr.com/ ] where I'll probably make a few posts to talk about what I'm working on/what my plans are the closer we get to the new year.

**Author's Note:**

> Interested in joining in on Kidgetober? You can find the full prompt list here: https://kidgetober.tumblr.com/post/623449636285317120/presenting-kidgetober-2020


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